Editing 2000s (section)

=== Fine arts ===
* [[Lucian Freud]] was a German-born British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hogrefe |first=Jeffrey |url=http://www.observer.com/node/39963 |title=Lucian Freud Bio Killed Amid Much Heavy Breathing |work=[[The New York Observer]] |date=December 14, 1997 |access-date=July 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719205413/http://www.observer.com/node/39963 |archive-date=July 19, 2008}} Also see Rimanelli, David (January 2012), [https://web.archive.org/web/20140610054047/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2553396771.html "Damien Hirst"], ''Artforum'': "With the recent death of Lucían Freud, some might argue that Hirst is now the greatest living British artist". Retrieved October 28, 2012. Also see Kennedy, Maev (December 21, 2001), [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/dec/21/arts.monarchy1 "Palace unveils Freud's gift to Queen"], ''The Guardian'', who calls Freud "the artist regarded as the greatest living British painter". Retrieved October 28, 2012. Darwent, Charles (November 28, 1999), [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-1990s-in-review-visual-arts--who-wants-to-be-a-yba-they-do-1129125.html "The 1990s in Review: Visual Arts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925010655/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-1990s-in-review-visual-arts--who-wants-to-be-a-yba-they-do-1129125.html |date=September 25, 2015 }}, ''The Independent'', says "Freud becomes the greatest living British artist after his Whitechapel show [of 1993]". Retrieved October 28, 2012.</ref>
** During a period from May 2000 to December 2001, Freud painted Queen [[Elizabeth II]]. There was criticism of this portrayal of the Queen in some sections of the British media. The highest selling tabloid newspaper, ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'', was particularly condemnatory, describing the portrait as "a travesty".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1723071.stm "Freud royal portrait divides critics"]. [[BBC News]]. December 21, 2001. Retrieved February 26, 2008. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130011802/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1723071.stm|date=January 30, 2009 }}</ref>
* The [[Hockney–Falco thesis]] is a controversial theory of [[art history]], advanced by artist [[David Hockney]] and physicist [[Charles M. Falco]], suggesting that advances in [[realism (visual arts)|realism]] and accuracy in the history of Western art since the [[Renaissance]] were primarily the result of optical aids such as the [[camera obscura]], [[camera lucida]], and [[curved mirror]]s, rather than solely due to the development of [[artist]]ic technique and skill. In a 2001 book, ''Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters'', Hockney analyzed the work of the [[Old Masters]] and argued that the level of accuracy represented in their work is impossible to create by "eyeballing it". Since then, Hockney and Falco have produced a number of publications on positive evidence of the use of optical aids, and the historical plausibility of such methods.
* [[Rolf Harris]] was an Australian entertainer. He was a musician, a singer-songwriter, a composer, a painter, and a television personality.
** In 2005 he painted an official portrait of [[Queen Elizabeth II]], which was the subject of a special episode of ''[[Rolf on Art]]''.
** Harris's portrait of The Queen was voted by readers of the ''[[Radio Times]]'' the third favourite portrait of her. The royal portrait was exhibited at [[Buckingham Palace]], the [[Palace of Holyroodhouse]] in [[Edinburgh]], and was exhibited on a tour of public galleries in the UK.
* In April–June 2003, the English visual artists often known as [[Jake and Dinos Chapman|The Chapman Brothers]], held a solo show at [[Modern Art Oxford]] entitled ''The Rape of Creativity'' in which "the ''enfants terribles'' of Britart, bought a mint collection of Goya's most celebrated prints – and set about systematically defacing them".<ref name="jones">Jones, Jonathan. [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/mar/31/artsfeatures.turnerprize2003 Look What We Did] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114190818/http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2003/mar/31/artsfeatures.turnerprize2003 |date=November 14, 2012 }}, ''[[The Guardian]]'', March 31, 2003. Retrieved February 3, 2009.</ref> The [[Francisco Goya]] prints referred to his ''[[The Disasters of War|Disasters of War]]'' set of 80 etchings.<ref name="jones" /> The duo named their newly defaced works ''Insult to Injury''.<ref name="jones" /> [[BBC]] described more of the exhibition's art: "Drawings of mutant Ronald McDonalds, a bronze sculpture of a painting showing a sad-faced Hitler in clown make-up and a major installation featuring a knackered old caravan and fake dog turds."<ref>Sumpter, Helen. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A1024282 BBC – collective – jake and dinos chapman, modern art oxford], BBC, April 17, 2003. Retrieved February 3, 2009. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113202552/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A1024282|date=November 13, 2012 }}</ref> ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' commented that the Chapman brothers had "managed to raise the hackles of art historians by violating something much more sacred to the art world than the human body – another work of art"<ref name="telegraph">Dorment, Richard. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3593618/Inspired-vandalism.html Inspired Vandalism], ''The Telegraph'', May 27, 2003. Retrieved February 3, 2009. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218072401/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3593618/Inspired-vandalism.html|date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref>
** As a protest against this piece, [[Aaron Barschak]] (who later gate-crashed [[Prince William]]'s 21st birthday party dressed as [[Osama bin Laden]] in a frock) threw a pot of red paint over Jake Chapman during a talk he was giving in May 2003.
* On May 5, 2004, a 1905 painting titled ''[[Garçon à la Pipe]]'' (English: Boy with a Pipe) by [[Pablo Picasso]] was sold for US$104,168,000 at [[Sotheby's]] [[auction]] in New York City. At the time, it broke [[List of most expensive paintings|the record for the amount paid for an auctioned painting]] (when inflation is ignored). The amount, US$104 million, includes the auction price of US$93 million plus the auction house's commission of about US$11 million. Many art critics have stated that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the artist's name than with the merit or historical importance of the painting. ''[[The Washington Post]]''{{'}}s article<ref name="The_Washington_Post">''A Record Picasso and the Hype Price of Status Objects'', Blake Gopnik, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', May 7, 2004</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100712212647/http://www.theartistpablopicasso.com/pablo-picasso-painting-boy-pipe.htm ''Boy with Pipe'' or ''Garcon a la Pipe'', 1905] (archived), ''The Artist Pablo Picasso''</ref> on the sale contained the following characterisation of the reaction: {{blockquote|Picasso expert Pepe Karmel, reached in New York the morning after the sale, was waxing wroth about the whole affair. "I'm stunned," he said, "that a pleasant, minor painting could command a price appropriate to a real masterwork by Picasso. This just shows how much the marketplace is divorced from the true values of art."}}
* On May 24, 2004, more than 100 artworks from the famous collection of art collector and sponsor of the [[Young British Artists]] (YBAs) [[Charles Saatchi]]'s were destroyed in a warehouse fire on an industrial estate in [[Leyton]], [[east London]]. Modern art classics such as [[Tracey Emin]]'s tent and works by [[Damien Hirst]], [[Sarah Lucas]] and [[Gary Hume]] were lost.
** Works by [[Patrick Caulfield]], [[Craigie Horsfield]] and 20 pieces by [[Martin Maloney (artist)|Martin Maloney]] were also destroyed. They represent some of the cream of the so-named "[[Britart]]" movement of celebrated modern artists.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fire devastates Saatchi artworks |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3748179.stm |access-date=February 18, 2013 |date=May 26, 2004 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021084053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3748179.stm |archive-date=October 21, 2007}}</ref>
* In 2004, during [[Channel 5 (UK)]]'s 'Big Art Challenge' television program, despite declaring: "I hold video and photography in profound contempt." English art critic [[Brian Sewell]], noted for artistic conservatism and having been described as "Britain's most famous and controversial art critic",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/nov/13/art |title=We pee on things and call it art |newspaper=Guardian |date=November 13, 2005 |author1=Cooke, Rachel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417010203/http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/nov/13/art |archive-date=April 17, 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=June 17, 2017}}</ref> went on to at least 3 times hail video artist (and ultimately the competition's winner) Chris Boyd (aged 21) a "genius".<ref>{{cite web |last=Boyd |first=Chris |title=Big Art Challenge Clips |website=[[YouTube]] |date=August 7, 2007 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PstdmbusGeQ |access-date=February 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810194634/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PstdmbusGeQ |archive-date=August 10, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Art of persuasion |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/going-out/art-of-persuasion-1128717 |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |access-date=February 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217062053/http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/going-out/art-of-persuasion-1128717 |archive-date=December 17, 2013}}</ref>
* In June 2007, the English artist, entrepreneur and art collector [[Damien Hirst]] gained the European record for the most expensive work of art by a living artist, when his ''Lullaby Spring'', (a 3-metre-wide steel cabinet with 6,136 pills) sold for 19.2 million dollars.
** In September 2008, [[Damien Hirst]] took an unprecedented move for a living artist by selling a complete show, ''Beautiful Inside My Head Forever'', at [[Sotheby's]] by auction and by-passing his long-standing galleries. The auction exceeded all predictions, raising £111 million ($198 million), breaking the record for a one-artist auction.
* December 9, 2009 – when the most expensive drawing by an [[Old Master]] ever, was sold in an auction. Titled 'Head of a Muse' by [[Raphael]]; costing £29,200,000 ($47,788,400), at [[Christie's]], [[London]], UK.<ref>{{cite web |title=Most expensive drawing by an Old Master sold at auction |url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-1/most-expensive-drawing-by-an-old-master-sold-at-auction/ |publisher=Guinness World Records |access-date=February 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217072653/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-1/most-expensive-drawing-by-an-old-master-sold-at-auction/ |archive-date=December 17, 2013}}</ref>